I'm Not Your Mother
by OkayDokey33
Summary: Who raised and took care of Naruto during his first few years of life? Certainly not anyone in the village. And the third Hokage is pretty busy being Hokage. What if Minato had a sister (Naruko) who took care of Naruto? The relationship between a boy and his guardian. A ninja and a non-ninja.
1. Hope for the Best

Summary: Who raised and took care of Naruto during his first few years of life? Certainly not anyone in the village. And the third Hokage is pretty busy being Hokage. What if Minato had a sister (Naruko) who took care of Naruto? The relationship between a boy and his guardian. A ninja and a non-ninja.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Note: My first fanfic. Hit me with reviews guys, give it to me straight, hit me with all you got. Don't expect an update soon though, my life has got other stuff that I need to do right now, but expect me to continue this.

* * *

"You have to do it in secret?" Naruko asked, surprised.

Minato scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin on his face and a blush of embarrassment over his face. "Yeah, complications with the seal Kushina's got, that's all."

Naruko sighed in relief, "Oh, I thought it was something a little more serious."

"Hey, this seal IS serious!" Minato said with a little laugh, trying to ease the anxiety, not just in Naruko, but in himself as well.

"Well I know that! I was thinking that since you're the Hokage and all, that might mean that all this secrecy meant that they were afraid that you'd get attacked. Like, there was an assassination attempt on the baby or something!"

"Great Naruko," Minato thought, "I didn't think of that until you brought it up. Now I have more to worry about."

Minato, the fourth Hokage, was about to become a father. Kushina, his wife, was about to give birth to their first child, and that first child would also be Naruko's first godchild.

Naruko was Minato's little sister, but just because she was his little sister didn't mean that she was a child. She was only younger than him by two years.

"I'm pretty sure no ninja keeps track of his targets' child births." Minato joked, trying to ease the added anxiety he felt from her previous statement.

Naruko looked at her old brother and squeezed his face into her hand playfully. "Well excuse me, Mr. Hokage! It's not my fault that I don't know what ninjas know!"

"Ah! Let go of my face you witch!" Minato cried, playfully pretending to be in pain and trying to pry his face from her hand. This earned a laugh from both of them. Despite all of the extra worries Naruko gave him about the birth of his child and how it could possibly take a turn for the worst, Minato was glad to have talked to her before departing. She could always find a way to put a smile on his face or a make a laugh come out of his mouth. The same could be said for Naruko.

Despite their chemistry, the two held two totally different lifestyles. While Minato aspired to be a ninja growing up, Naruko had settled for the quieter life of an average person. While it was Minato's dream to become Hokage and bring peace to the world in a big way, and fight for peace as a shinobi warrior, Naruko had dreamed of a simple life, finding her prince charming and bringing peace one small step at a time, with small kind acts.

If you were to compare them from their youth to now, you would say that they had fulfilled their dreams somewhat. Minato was literally fourth Hokage, one of the greatest titles a shinobi could every dream of having, and Naruko had blossomed into a woman that had stolen the hearts of many men, and was popular among the women of the village for her kind and gentle spirit. This arrangement had worked well for them. After a mission, Minato would come home and be greeted with a dinner Naruko had made, waiting for him to eat to his stomach's delight, and with Naruko at home, he didn't have to worry about paying the bills and just went on living his ninja life, and with Minato being one of the best ninjas in the village (and the slightly overprotective big brother he was), no man dared to hurt Naruko in any way.

After they had stopped laughing, Naruko asked, "So, have you decided on a name yet?"

Minato nodded, "We'll be naming him Naruto."

Naruko smirked, "How do you know it's a boy already? I may not be a ninja, but I at least know none of you can predict the future."

Minato shrugged, "I don't know. A gut feeling I have."

Naruko shook her head with a laugh, "Okay fine, but why are you naming him Naruto?"

Minato grinned, "We decided to name him after you!"

Naruko's eyes grew in surprise, "Seriously?"

Minato nodded, "What's the problem? If you both have similar names, than he's more inclined to be interested in what you're doing, and if he's interested in knowing about what you're doing, then he'll follow you around, and if he follows you around, your personality would spread onto him and he'd be a good boy! I'd be raising the kid without raising a finger!" After the explanation he had a smug grin on his face.

Naruko almost screamed, "SERIOUSLY!?"

Minato laughed, "Ah, of course not. But still… you've been a big part of my life and a good friend to Kushina, even while she was pregnant and her hormones went wild. But in all seriousness," Minato quickly added as Naruko gave him a displeased look, "we really did want to name our child after someone we admired, and there's no one else I can think about except you sis."

Naruko looked at her brother in shock, and then cast her glance to the floor in embarrassment, even blushing a little bit, "You too, bro."

With that statement, Minato also felt his head look down in embarrassment. They may have had a close relationship, but they still seldom ever said anything so sentimental to each other.

"Hey," Minato began, trying to break the awkwardness between them a little bit, "I have your word right? That if anything happens to me and Kushina… that you would take care of him, right?"

Naruko looked at him and nodded with a big smile on her face, "You bet!"

Minato smiled, but then looked down at the floor again and asked, "Naruko… do you think I'll be a good father?"

Naruko had a gentle smile on her lips, "You've taken care of me all these years, right? How hard could it be to do it again? And besides," she sat down next to Minato and looked up at his face, "you have Kushina and me to help you out this time."

Minato smiled, "I'm really too lucky to have you two in my life."

Naruko looked down in embarrassment once again. "Then you'd better treasure it, or else we'll clobber you in your sleep," she joked.

Minato laughed a little. She was right. He wasn't alone on this. He looked out the window, "I should probably get going right now," he said.

Naruko took her brother's hands into hers, "Then go."

* * *

Naruko was in their house right now. It had been a while since Minato had left to go with Kushina to give birth to their child. She wondered what was taking him so long to give her the news. Didn't it happen yet? And if it did, why didn't Minato notify her yet? You'd think a ninja nicknamed "The Yellow Flash" would be able to tell her the news in a blink of an eye.

Suddenly, she heard a tremendous boom coming from outside. As she looked out the window, she screamed. Outside, she saw a gigantic fox with nine tails and orange fur, practically destroying the forest of the Hidden Leaf Village. For some reason, she couldn't stop staring at the bloodthirsty eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox; she was lost in them, frozen in fear. She was awakened from her trance by an urgent knock on the door. She ran toward it and opened it, and saw a fellow shinobi.

"Naruko, we need you to evacuate right now!"

"What's going on? How did this happen?" Naruko asked, panic apparent in her voice.

"We can't say right now. Right now, the safety of the villagers is the most important thing. Please, you need to evacuate right now!" The shinobi reached out his hand, imploring that she take it.

Naruko took one more look out the window and after a brief moment of hesitation, nodded and took the shinobi's hand.

"Minato," Naruko thought, "please be okay."

* * *

(Moments Ago)

"So," Minato thought, "that masked man wants to release the Nine-Tailed Fox, destroy the Hidden Leaf, and had the nerve to attack my wife and son?" Minato's eyes grew sharper, "No way am I gonna let him get his way! I'll protect the people I treasure!"

* * *

As Naruko was waiting at the evacuation site, she saw a familiar face in the distance.

"Kakashi!" she cried, waving her arms to signal where she was.

Kakashi looked at her and slowly walked towards her, with a look of sadness on his face. Naruko, now wanting to wait any longer, ran towards him, and they met halfway.

"Kakashi, what happened?" Naruko asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know," he answered, "one moment it was an ordinary day, the next, that giant fox came out of nowhere and attacked the village."

Naruko looked at his distraught face, and asked, "Why are you here?"

"The old ninja wanted the younger generation of ninjas to be evacuated. I guess they thought that if all of them died, at least the village would have its next generation to protect it."

Naruko nodded in understanding, and as she looked around, saw many other ninjas close to Kakashi's age. As she returned her attention to Kakashi, she was startled to find Kakashi close to tears.

"Kakashi," she asked in a gentle voice, "what's wrong?"

Kakashi was wiping his eyes with his arm. In bitter sniffles he answered, "First Obito… then Rin… am I going to lose Minato sensei too?"

Naruko's eyes softened as she enveloped Kakashi in a gentle and reassuring hug. "Don't worry, Minato will be alright. He's the forth Hokage after all."

"Yeah, but… the situation… it's just so hopeless…."

" Don't say that!" Naruko interrupted. She lowered herself so that she and Kakashi were face-to-face. "Never lose hope Kakashi! I believe… if you have hope… then anything can happen!"

Kakashi gasped. There was such determination in Naruko's eyes. After staring at her for a while, Kakashi's expression relaxed, and he nodded. Naruko smiled.

"That's right," she told herself, "as long as you have hope, nothing can stop you. Isn't that right… Minato?"

* * *

After a long time, Naruko saw the third Hokage and a large group of ninja walk slowly toward the evacuation site. She didn't see Minato with them. With fear sprouting in her, she ran towards the third Hokage, who had something in his arms.

"Third!" Naruko cried.

The third Hokage raised his hand to stop her and gave her what he was holding. Naruko looked at what she had been given and gasped. There, in her arms, was a baby boy, with blonde hair and whisker marks on his face, just like her. He had cuddled up in her arms and was sleeping peacefully.

Naruko looked at the third Hokage and asked, "Who is this?"

The third Hokage sighed and answered, "Your godchild."

Naruko gasped, and after a while, realization rose from within her. "Wait," her voice was faltering, "does that mean…."

"Yes Naruko," the third Hokage said sadly, "Minato and Kushina are both dead."

Naruko was trying to fight back tears, "This is… Naruto?"

"Yes."

Naruko looked at the baby and kissed his forehead, and after caressing his face, looked back at the third Hokage and asked, "What happened?" It seemed like she was asking this question a lot today.

The third Hokage let out an exasperated sigh. "A man in a mask ambushed us. His target was the Nine-Tailed Fox. He succeeded at releasing it and Minato fought hard. In the end, all he could do was seal the Nine-Tailed Fox into the baby you see before you."

"Wait a minute." Naruko and the third Hokage, startled, looked to the side, to see a villager had listened in on the conversation. "Are you telling me that that demon is in the kid right now?!" he screamed, obviously frightened and paranoid after today's ordeal.

"Well yes," the third Hokage began, "but you see…."

"If the demon is inside that kid than we should kill him!" The previous scream from that villager had directed everyone's attention to the scene, and many others were joining the man's side.

"Yeah, who knows when the demon will come out again? Let's kill it while we have the chance!"

"What are you waiting for third Hokage?! Kill it!"

"That thing needs to die!"

"Are we just going to let it live and risk another attack on the village?!"

"My husband died fighting that thing! Let's avenge everyone's deaths!"

"Yeah Naruko! That thing killed the fourth and his wife, right?! Don't you want to avenge their deaths?!"

"No," Naruko began, "you don't understand!"

"We don't need to understand! We know enough to know what we SHOULD do!"

"Silence!" The third Hokage commanded. Everyone got quiet. "We will not kill the boy. The demon may be inside him, but he's still him. I will let him live his life." There was grumbling among the people.

"The Third Hokage and Naruko are too nice! Can't they see that no matter what it looks like, the child is still a demon and a threat?!"

Naruko felt a hand rest firmly, but reassuringly on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see the third Hokage looking at her.

"Naruko," he said, "we might have to talk about this in private." He made a hand sign and the next thing Naruko knew, she was teleported to the Hokage's office.

The third sat down in the chair that was previously his. He stretched a little bit and sighed. "Now then, we need to know what to do with the child. With the fourth dead and no current replacement available at the moment, it's to be expected that I would be re-elected as Hokage. If that does happen, then I'll be too busy to raise the child on my own. Now what should we do with the child? Obviously the village will ostracize him, and if given the chance, they might kill him as well. And after fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox, I doubt that they'll be too willing to raise the boy as one of their own. And if you take care of him, who knows what'll happen to you, a regular person. Obviously if the village decides to take an aggressive approach against the boy, you won't be able to stop them, and they might kill you too," he sighed again, "What a predicament."

Naruko looked at the baby in her arms. Then she looked up at the third, with determination in her eyes.

"It should be obvious, right?" she said. "I'll take care of him, I'll raise him." She held the boy close. "After all, we are family, aren't we?"

"But Naruko, the consequences of having him are too great."

"That doesn't matter," Naruko said. "Naruto is family now, and I treasure my family, and I'll make sure nothing happens to him." While she was saying this, she was looking at Naruto's sleeping face the entire time.

The third grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Naruko continued to look at Naruto, and said with a grin, "Hope can make anything possible."

* * *

Note: Review this guys! Give me all you got! :D


	2. Live For the Fallen

Note: I wanted to make this a Thanksgiving special, but the moment I got home, my mind was practically dead, so here's a late Thanksgiving special!

* * *

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

Naruko smiled. "No, I'm sure." She then showed her visitor a concerned look. "In all honesty, I feel that I should be asking YOU that. Didn't you leave the village in order to find a friend of yours?"

Jiraiya let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, yeah, but it hasn't been easy. Haven't found a single clue yet. I kind of doubt you can help me anyway. No one knows my friend better than me, right?" Jiraiya chuckled.

He had heard fairly quickly that his apprentice had been killed in battle with the Nine-Tailed Fox, and rushed to the village in order to help out as much as he could. He may have been trailing Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, but he always found time to spend time with his apprentice, and attending Minato's funeral was no exception. It had been an hour since the funeral, and since then, he and Naruko had had some time to catch up and during that time, Naruko had explained the situation with Naruto. The boy was going to have it pretty rough, and, if things get crazy enough, Naruko may have a hard time too. He couldn't stay though, so before he left, he had asked if Naruko needed help with anything, but Naruko declined.

"By the way," Jiraiya asked, "where is the little tyke anyway?" He had a smirk on his face. "You didn't lose him already, did you Naruko?"

Naruko pouted. "No I haven't." She let out an exasperated sigh of her own. "The Third asked if he could have him for the day. The council's not going to take the issue of a demon inside a child lightly, and from what he told me, some have really considered the option of killing the poor thing!" She shuddered at the thought of a baby being sentenced to death. "The Third thinks that bringing Naruto in and letting the council see him for themselves will help convince them to keep Naruto alive, and possibly make some laws to protect the both of us from the villagers killing him themselves."

Jiraiya thought for a moment. "Using a child's innocence to influence the council's decision." Jiraiya laughed at that. "That old geezer's still got some tricks up his sleeve! Still, kind of shrewd, even for the old man!"

Naruko had a smile on her face. "I guess that shows us how much this means to him."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that. If I were in his shoes I'd probably use every dirty trick in the book to keep that kid alive. Wouldn't want a kid's death sentence on my conscience!" Jiraiya had a smug grin on his face, approached Naruko and slowly put his arm around her shoulder and brought her close. "Just like I can't leave in good conscience a beautiful woman who's had no experience raising a kid by herself without helping her out first!"

Naruko looked at the Jiraiya with a sickening look and stomped on his foot. She may have been considered a nice person, but even she wouldn't allow herself to be a victim of Jiraiya's perverted flirting.

Jiraiya yelped in pain and held his injured foot. "Jeez woman! I swear, if you hadn't chosen a normal life for yourself, you would have made one heck of a ninja!"

Naruko had a fake smile on her face now. "And no matter what life you would have chosen for yourself, you'd still be a big, fat pervert!"

Jiraiya held up his hands in protest. "Hey, but you have to admit, I'd also be 'great' either way, right?"

Naruko crossed her arms angrily. "Actually without your jutsus, you're actually pretty lame."

Jiraiya held his hand above the place his heart would be and pretended to be in mock pain. "Ah, a beautiful woman telling a man he's lame…," he sighed dramatically, "there's nothing more painful."

Naruko groaned and shook her head. "Why are you still here?!"

Jiraiya could sense that he had overstayed his visit. "Alright already! I'll leave!" He was about to jump out the window before he stopped himself and asked again, in a serious and concerned voice, "But seriously, are you going to be alright?"

Naruko smiled a reassuring smile at Jiraiya and gave him an answer with just as much seriousness. "Yeah, I'll manage. Besides, I'll have the 'old geezer' to help me."

Jiraiya smiled at her. His apprentice's sister wasn't a ninja, but she was still one heck of a strong woman. He was about to leave before he stopped himself again and said, "Oh! I almost forgot!" He rummaged through his bag, looking for something. Finally, he found what he was looking for and his face lit up. "Ah ha!" He took out what appeared to be a small, yellow book. "Found it!"

Naruko looked at the book curiously. "What is it?"

Jiraiya held the book close and proudly smiled. "This is my latest book! And I believe it's my greatest masterpiece (if I do say so myself)! Here." He motioned for Naruko to grab the book out of his hand.

Naruko took it and asked, "Wait, you're giving this to me?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yep! My last book failed to be a bestseller, but THIS one will! I can just feel it!" Jiraiya watched Naruko eagerly, as if he expected her to start reading it this very moment.

Naruko looked at the book. "Make Out Paradise?" She smiled to herself. Jiraiya's last book was The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, which was a story about a hero vowing to break the world's 'curse'. No doubt this one wasn't going to be any different. Despite Naruko being angry at all of Jiraiya's perverted shenanigans, she knew that deep down Jiraiya was a fierce believer in peace. She looked at Jiraiya with an amused look on her face. "Funny, I actually liked your last book."

Jiraiya waved off her compliment. "Ah, you probably don't even remember what it was about."

"Of course I do! It's about this character named Naruto and…." She stopped herself. "Wait," she thought, "the heroes name was Naruto too?"

Jiraiya looked at her shocked expression and smiled to himself proudly. "Yep, Minato liked my book so much that he decided to name his unborn child after my main character! He even said that if anything happened to the little guy, I would be his godfather! Of course, with me traveling all the time, I guess the kid's better off staying with you!"

Naruko shook her head. "But Minato said that he named Naruto after me! He said that he wanted to name it after someone he and Kushina both admired and that if anything happened to them, I would be Naruto's godmother and take care of him!"

Jiraiya shook his head in protest. "No way! You must have heard him wrong or something! He totally said those things about MY book, and MY main character, and MY position as part of the family!" He laughed to himself. "I was almost about to decline too! I mean, come on! My kind of work can be pretty dangerous from time to time! I never would have had any time to raise a kid! But that last thing he said," he wiped an imaginary tear of happiness away, "really touched me! I couldn't say no after that!"

Naruko stared at Jiraiya in shock. "Wait, you were about to decline the title of 'godfather'?" Jiraiya nodded. "That's so strange. Me too! When Minato asked me if I could be Naruto's godmother, I was on the fence about it. I mean, he told me lots of times before that he wanted his kid to be a ninja, so what good would it have been for him to be stuck with me, a normal person? But when he said all those nice things about me, I couldn't say no!"

"So wait, that means…."

They both looked at each other for a moment before the cruel realization hit them. They both screamed, "HE SUCKERED US!"

* * *

Naruko was angrily walking through the forest. After Jiraiya and herself realized what her brother had done to them, they both angrily said their good- byes and left. Jiraiya, no doubt, angrily went back on his mission, while Naruko angrily walked through the forest to let out some steam. Her brother may have just died recently, but to sucker two people that cared about him, that just felt wrong!

She continued walking until she saw a figure in the distance. Curiosity got the best of her and she walked toward the figure. When she was close enough to the figure, she noticed that it was someone she knew, looking at something.

"Kakashi!" she cried, waving towards the young shinobi.

Kakashi turned around and returned her wave with a small wave of his own. Naruko slowly walked to where Kakashi was and looked at what Kakashi was looking at. It was the Memorial Stone. The Memorial Stone had all the names of all the shinobi who had been killed in action and Kakashi's friend, Obito, had his name there. From what Minato told her, Kakashi spent much of his free time here.

Naruko approached the stone and paid her respects to the fallen, and softly asked Kakashi, "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi continued looking at the stone and asked, "Why do you ask?"

Naruko shrugged. "Minato's funeral was only a while ago, I thought since we were already at the cemetery, you'd take the chance to visit Obito and Rin's graves too."

Kakashi could at least understand that logic. "I always visit their graves and the Memorial Stone. I don't know why but… it just seems right."

Naruko looked at Kakashi and said, "Minato told me you spend most of your free time here."

Kakashi continued to look at the stone. "Yeah."

"Why?"

Kakashi didn't answer, and Naruko didn't pry. For a few minutes, they stared at the Memorial Stone, until finally Kakashi asked, "How do you do it?"

Naruko looked at Kakashi questionably. "Hmm?"

Kakashi was still looking at the stone. "Your brother just died recently. How can you recover from that so quickly?"

Naruko thought for a moment, and answered, "I guess it's because no matter how hard I cry, he won't be coming back. Besides," she had a small smile on her face, "I have someone that depends on me right now. I have to stay strong for him at least." She looked at Kakashi. "And you have to stay strong too."

Kakashi's fists were clenched. "For who exactly?!" His voice was faltering now. "My parents are dead! My friends are dead! My teacher is dead! Everyone precious to me has been taken away from me! How can I be strong when I have nothing else to be strong for!" He looked at Naruko. "All I ever did was hope that things would get better, but they haven't! After my parents died, I thought I could at least be a great ninja, but then Obito showed me just how weak I really was! After Obito died, I wanted to protect Rin, but I couldn't! After I promised myself that I would never let any more of my friends die, Minato died, and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it!" Tears were starting to form in his eyes. "I'm sick of this! All this hope is just false hope that keeps plunging me into a greater despair!"

Kakashi was starting to lose it. Naruko wrapped her arms around Kakashi and gave him a firm hug. "It's alright," she whispered. "Let it all out, it's okay." And for a few minutes, Kakashi just cried. Naruko stroked his back comfortingly, waiting patiently for him to get his bearings.

When Kakashi finally calmed down, he looked up at Naruko and asked with pleading eyes, "What exactly am I supposed to fight for now?!"

Naruko ruffled Kakashi's hair a little bit and answered, "First of all, stopp thinking like that. What would Minato, Obito and Rin say if they saw you like this?"

After a little while, Kakashi realized that she wanted him to answer her question. "They'd probably tell me I was an idiot, and that I shouldn't feel so bad about it." He let out a bitter laugh.

Naruko nodded. "Exactly. I may have not known all of you as much as my brother did, but even I could tell that you were all good friends. And I doubt good friends let their friends 'plunge themselves into despair'." She gave Kakashi a small smile. "Secondly, you need to keep on living. I know you think that you have nothing else to live for, but that's not true! You're living for Obito, Rin and now Minato too! They gave you the gift of life. Treasure the life that they gave you! Live on for them… because now, YOU are their new hope."

Kakashi looked at Naruko for a moment, then at the ground, then at the Memorial Stone. "I'm sorry," he said. "But I don't think I'll ever stop coming here."

Naruko gave a soft giggle. "I didn't expect you to turn a complete 180, but maybe instead of feeling sorry for yourself all the time, maybe you can at least have a hobby to keep your mind off of it?"

Kakashi looked at her again. "Like what?"

Naruko thought for a moment, and then realized that she still had Jiraiya's book with her. Her 'light bulb' lit up. "How about…" she took out the book and presented it in front of Kakashi's face, "reading?"

Kakashi looked at the book with wide eyes for a moment. "Make Out Paradise? Never heard of it before."

"Well, from what I can tell, it just came out, and the author is a friend of mine and he gave me a free copy… but I think it's better off in your hands then mine." She offered the book to Kakashi. "I'll be taking care of a baby soon! Something tells me I won't have any time to read, with a baby keeping me busy and all!"

Kakashi hesitated for a moment before taking the book. He looked at it for a moment and asked, "What is it about?"

Naruko shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't even looked at it yet, but if I know the author, than it's probably about a hero that never gives up. A hero who wants to turn the world away from despair and towards 'paradise'. Plus…I think he finds his true love." She giggled.

Kakashi set the book under his arm and said, "Thank you."

Naruko smiled. "You're very welcome." She turned to walk back home.

Kakashi cried, "Hey, Naruko?"

She turned around. "What?"

"Is it true what they say, that you're going to take care of the demon child?"

Naruko took a moment to think about her answer. "Yeah." She waited a moment to see what Kakashi would do next. When he didn't say anything, Naruko asked, "Do you believe that he's the demon too?"

Kakashi shook his head, waved off the statement, and said with his usual indifferent disposition, "Are you kidding? Minato sacrificed himself to turn a giant, demonic fox into a little kid? There's no such jutsu. And besides, that's just plain silly. Why would anyone do that?"

Naruko smiled at him. "Thank you!" she cried.

Kakashi turned around and started walking toward the opposite direction and waved back. "Yeah, well, I guess you can consider us even now!"

Naruko laughed, and continued walking back home.

* * *

When Kakashi got home, he looked at the book Naruko had given him.

He shrugged to himself, "Might as well." And he started to read.

* * *

Kakashi had barely read two pages, but he was totally hooked.

"This book is AMAZING!"


	3. Sympathize For the Helpless

Note: This is pretty long. And I don't think I'll be able to do another chapter in a while, with my break being over and all. Ah well… sorry for the wait! Here you go.

* * *

"What do you mean you still need him?" Naruko asked, surprised. "For a whole week, the only time I've ever spent with Naruto is at night, when he goes to sleep! Not counting the times when he wakes me up in the middle of the night for one reason or another, I haven't even spent an hour with him! And if we're going to live together, we have to be acquainted with each other." She looked at Naruto, who was currently in her arms right now. "Isn't that right Naruto?" she gushed playfully, "Ow!" she cried, as Naruto grabbed some of her hair, pulled it down, and put it in his mouth. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let her hair down, especially near the baby. Naruko was trying to get her hair loose from Naruto's mouth. "No Naruto! Very bad! Ah!" When she finally got it loose, she looked at Naruto and pouted. "Now I know it's my fault for letting my hair down today, but you can't do that in the future young man! Not to a boy, and especially not to a girl, alright?" she scolded lightly, wagging her finger lightly in front of his little face. Of course, Naruto didn't understand what was happening, and laughed, apparently thinking that he had done something good.

The third chuckled at the scene before him. "I'm sorry that my needing the child is preventing you from experiencing more than just hair pulling and sleepless nights, but laws aren't made in a day you know, and there are more laws that we need to make than you realize."

Naruko stopped caressing her scalp and asked, "Like what?"

The third thought for a moment, before answering, "Well, there are hospital laws, educational laws, issues about whether we should consider Naruto a citizen of the village or not…."

"Really? You have to discuss about that too?"

The third nodded. "Remember, there's a lot of controversy about letting the child live to begin with, so if they can't kill Naruto, then they'll just try to deprive him of any rights and hope that it'll kill him naturally."

Naruko cringed at the thought. "Who knew political figures were so devious?" She looked at Naruto and kissed him on his little forehead, as if attempting to make him forget what he had just heard.

The third rubbed his temples and rolled his eyes. "You have no idea," he muttered. He extended his arms and asked, "May I have him now?"

"Oh, sorry!' Naruko gently put Naruto in the third's arms and whispered softly, "We'll see each other again, okay Naruto?" She grabbed both of Naruto's little hands and kissed them both playfully, before the third took Naruto away.

Before the third was too far away, he said over his shoulder, "I don't know if you've done this yet or not," the third began, "but maybe you should spend the time you don't have with Naruto preparing yourself to raise Naruto." The third scratched his chin. "Last time I checked, you didn't make your apartment baby-friendly yet, have you?"

Naruko eyes grew wide and she laughed weakly. "Um… yeah… I was just getting to that, heh heh." She then started running to the nearest baby shop.

The third Hokage shook his head. "She means well and all," he looked at Naruto, who was playing with his hat, "but is she really ready for this type of challenge?"

* * *

"I'm sorry Naruko, but I can't in good conscience let you buy these!"

"Why not?" Naruko asked.

"Because, all these baby supplies will help that little demon grow and when he grows up, he's going to wreck havoc on the village again when we least expect it! And when that happens, I don't want anybody pointing fingers at me for contributing to the demon's growth! I have a family to take care of! I'm not going to endanger my family because of the demon's attack, or the danger of being involved with it!" the owner of the shop said.

By the looks of it, the owner of the shop wasn't going to listen to reason. Naruko frowned and sighed. She hated to do this, but when push comes to shove, she CAN play hardball if she needed to.

Naruko lowered her head, drawing circles on the counter with her finger, leaned close to the store owner's face, and whispered softly, "I understand… but can you at least make an exception? You can deliver it at night when everyone's asleep or something."

The store owner shook his head. "No way. I'm not going to risk it."

Naruko shrugged. "Fine then. I'll just stay then."

"…What?"

Naruko nodded. "You know, a lot of people think that I've been possessed by the demon, that the only reason I'm taking care of the child is because the demon is controlling me, making me do something that no one in their right mind would do. Because of that, a lot of people have started to avoid me. Whenever I go into a room, most people leave it, just because I'm there. I guess they're afraid that they're going to be possessed too. Like possession is a disease or something."

The store owner stepped back in fear. "Are… are you threatening me?"

Naruko shook her head. "If I am, I'm sorry, but the way I see it, I'm stating the facts and how this isn't beneficial for either of us. If I just leave today, I'll just come back tomorrow, and I'd just keep coming back until you sell me the things I want. Eventually, that's going to give your store a bad reputation." She crossed her arms, her voice being calm and steady, "And if I stay here, then no one will come into this store, just because I'm in it. If no one wants to go into your store, and you're not going to sell me anything, then eventually, this business of yours will fall apart, and last time I checked, you put a lot of pride into this business, right?"

The store owner glared at her. "Why you…."

Naruko didn't like being glared at, but at this point, she'd just have to make due. "Please reconsider sir." She bowed, showing him her respects.

The store owner hesitated, before finally shouting, "Yeah right! I'd rather lose my pride and joy than die or be ostracized!" He pointed towards the store's entrance. "Now get out of my -"

"Hold it right there!" Naruko and the store owner looked to their left, to see the store owner's wife, who had crossed her arms and was glaring at her husband. She walked up to her husband and yanked his ear. "Give the girl what she wants, you stupid old fool!"

The store owner, cringing at the pain inflicted on his ear, yelled, "But lady, you don't understand!"

The wife put her hands on her husband's face, squeezed his face in her hands, and forced him to look at her in the eye, a menacing aura surrounding her. "You said you had a family to take care of, right? Well how are you going to take care of your family when you don't even have enough money for groceries this week?! You want us to starve to death or something?"

The store owner was trying to break out of his wife's grip. "No, that's not it at all!"

"Then what are you standing around here for! Give the girl what she wants and be done with it!"

"Y-yes ma'am."

He was about to do just that, before his wife grabbed his collar and yelled, "Apologize to your customer first!"

The store owner hesitated for a moment, before finally bowing and saying, "I'm sorry Naruko."

Naruko didn't really know how to respond to the scene she had just witnessed, but she raised her hands in protest, saying, "Oh, don't worry about it! I completely understand!" She bowed to them herself. "If anything, I'm sorry that I was such a bother."

The store owner seemed to calm down after that. He sold Naruko the things she wanted, she thanked him, and was about to leave, before the store owner's wife yelled, "Take care of that kid! Ya hear?!" she grumbled, before adding, "And don't you think that I think that that kid isn't the demon! Let's just say I have a soft spot for fellow mothers! Ya hear!?"

Naruko looked at the store owner's wife in shock before smiling, nodding and saying, "Yes ma'am."

As Naruko left the store and was walking back home, she looked at her shopping bag and thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, when Minato was still alive, he was the one that brought in all the money, with missions and stuff like that. Now that he's dead, eventually I'm going to run out of money if I keep spending it like this." Naruko cringed. "Eventually… I'm going to have to find a job. …How am I going to do that?" Despite what others may have thought based on her discussion with the store shop owner, Naruko was very much telling the truth. Many people thought she really was possessed and they really did leave the room whenever she entered. What are the chances of those same people hiring her for a job? It was already bad enough that she was inexperienced, but now that she thought about it, the situation was much worse than she thought. "What am I gonna do?" she wailed.

Just then, she bumped into two familiar faces. "Naruko, hey, how's it going!"

"Izumo! Kotetsu!" She hugged the two of them and said, "I'm doing fine! Thank you!"

"Well looks like someone's having a good day today." Kotetsu remarked, a smirk on his face.

"What?" Naruko asked, "Why?"

"Let's just say that Kotetsu wants the last six hours of his life back." Izumo said.

"Heck yeah I want the last six hours of my life back!" Kotetsu yelled to his partner, "Not even a moment of peace with that little brat!"

"Kotetsu! Watch what you say!" Izumo looked at Naruko. "Forgive my friend here. He's got some issues with a certain someone today."

"You'd have issues too if you had to deal with that little brat for six hours straight!" Izumo cried.

"Am I missing something here?" Naruko asked, laughing.

Izumo chuckled. "Kotetsu had to sub in for one of the teachers in the Ninja Academy, and let's just say that one of the students there was a bit of a thorn in Kotetsu's side."

"You're pushing it," Kotetsu grumbled under his breath.

"What happened to the teacher?" Naruko asked.

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other, before Izumo answered gravely, "He… died… fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Naruko's expression softened. "Oh."

The three just stared at the floor for a moment before Kotetsu tried to lighten the mood. "Well, at least I only had to sub in for a day, ya' know?" He stretched his arms out and yawned. "And you have to admit," he asked, addressing Izumo, "I'm not the only one who hates that kid."

Izumo sighed, but nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He looked at Naruko, who was looking at the two questionably. He decided to explain the situation to her. "That class that Kotetsu subbed for has already been given seven subs before him. The Academy is trying to find someone who is willing to take on the teacher role full time, but the kid Kotetsu keeps talking about has been driving everyone crazy, so no one really wants to take on the job." Izumo shook his head. "Disgraceful. It shouldn't matter if one kid is too out of hand. Leading the next generation of ninja is too important of a job to let one annoying kid get in the way."

"You're always talking about things that you've never actually experienced yourself," Kotetsu muttered.

"It doesn't make me wrong!"

"Actually it makes you totally wrong."

As the two argued, Naruko started thinking. So the Ninja Academy needed a teacher, huh? "So… the class still doesn't have a teacher, right?" Naruko asked.

Kotetsu looked at her, a surprised look on his face. "Um… yeah. Why?"

Naruko hesitated, before asking, "Is it okay… that I… sub for the class?"

The two ninja looked at each other. "But, you're not a shinobi," Kotetsu stated.

"Yeah, but, one day of subbing shouldn't do too much damage, right?"

Izumo thought for a moment. "Yes, and you're not exactly clueless about how to be a shinobi either, being the fourth Hokage's sister and all."

Naruko nodded. "Right! I can at least teach them basic coordination, right? That could really help on the taijutsu department, right?"

Kotetsu smirked. "She's not exactly wrong. And it wouldn't be so bad to make them do other exercises other than running laps and regular workouts, right?"

Izumo looked at both of them for a moment. Kotetsu looked really eager and excited, but that was obviously because he didn't want to be stuck subbing again, and Naruko looked just as eager and excited, but for what reason? He looked at her shopping bag, and put a little bit more than two and two together.

"You… just want to get paid… don't you… Naruko?"

Naruko cringed, and after Kotetsu saw her, her cringed too. "He's not right, right Naruko?"

Naruko laughed weakly. "Well…." She fiddled with her fingers a little and looked away. "He's not exactly wrong either."

The two shinobi cringed. "Well… I've heard of worse reasons to sub for a ninja class," Kotetsu said.

"Yeah, but none were ever so shallow." Izumo replied.

* * *

"Okay Naruko. Take a deep breath. This'll be simple. All we're going to do today is do some exercises and the regular assigned schedule." Naruko took a deep breath. She could hear the students talking amongst themselves in the classroom, which only made her more and more nervous by the second. She was told the moment she got there that the Academy had finally found someone who would be willing to teach full time and that he would start tomorrow, and although that took off some of the pressure for today, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. "Oh well," she thought, "might as well get this over with. No hesitation." She reached for the door and opened it.

A water balloon hit her square in the face.

"Ha ha ha ha! Did you guys see that?! That was hilarious!" The boy who had thrown the said water balloon had brown hair and a scar across his nose.

"Iruka! That's kind of mean, isn't it? I mean, she's only subbing for the day!" a silver haired boy said, running up to "Iruka".

"Aw, come on Mizuki! You have to admit, that was classic!"

"Mizuki" frowned, turned to a drenched Naruko, and bowed, saying, "I'm sorry that you were unfortunate enough to be a victim of one of Iruka's pranks." He raised his head and glanced at Iruka through the corner of his eye, "Iruka was never very good at making friends." Was it Naruko's imagination, or did she see a sneer appear on Mizuki's face? "Don't take it too personally Iruka, but you aren't."

Iruka, for a split second, looked hurt by this statement, but quickly put a smile on his face, scratching the back of his head, laughing. "Are you kidding Mizuki? You're one of my friends, aren't you?"

Mizuki chuckled. "I guess. But having only one friend is nothing to brag about either."

A girl from her desk gasped. "You're Naruko Namikaze!"

Naruko, while wringing her hair and clothes, smiled and said, "Yeah, that's me."

The students gasped. Mizuki and Iruka stepped back a little and some of the students were whispering amongst each other.

"My mom said that she was taking care of the demon child!"

"I've heard rumors that she was possessed or something!"

"Is she going to try and possess us too?"

"Idiot! Possession isn't like a disease or something! ...Right?"

"I hear that that thing's going to destroy the village again!"

Naruko took a hairband out of her pocket and put her hair into a single ponytail. After that, she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright, alright, settle down!" she cried. "Get back to your seats!" she turned to Iruka and Mizuki, "You too. Go on!" As the two got to their seats, Naruko put her hands on her hips and said, "Look. I know that the demon attacking the village was scary, and I know that many of you have probably been victims of the demon's attack, but me personally? I don't believe that the child is the demon itself." Naruko sighed. "Then again, I digress. You can believe anything you want to believe, and I'll believe anything I want to believe. That's your right, and frankly, I can't really do anything about it anyway. I gave you all my two cents, and that's good enough for me." She wagged her finger at them. "But you all believing I'm possessed, that's where I draw the line! I'll have you all know that I feel just fine! I always know where I'm going, and I always know why I'm going there. And besides," she giggled, "if I were possessed, I'd be trying to eat all of your brains out of something. I'll stick to ramen and junk food, thank you very much!"

The students seemed to calm down after that. "Good," Naruko thought, "they've all calmed down. Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

Naruko clapped her hands. "Alright! I'm going to be subbing for your class today!"

"But wait a minute," a student shouted, "you aren't a ninja!"

"Yeah, but she's the fourth Hokage's sister!" a girl said.

"Yeah!" a boy cried, starting to get excited, "Maybe the fourth Hokage taught her everything he knows, and maybe she's like, a secret ninja or something!"

"Aren't secret ninjas illegal ninjas?"

"Who cares! We're going to learn how to walk at lightning fast speeds! This is gonna rock!"

Naruko laughed weakly. "Actually… I don't really know how to do any of the ninjutsu my brother does. In all honesty, I'd have a better chance learning from you than you from me."

"Aw, come on!"

"Lame!"

"Now wait just a second!" Naruko said, raising her hands in protest, "I may not know anything about genjutsu or ninjutsu, but I can at least help you all with your taijutsu!"

A girl raised her hand and said, "Um… excuse me, but my mom said that you wouldn't even hurt a fly."

"I hurt… some flies." Naruko said weakly. She shook her head, trying to regain her composure and her control over the class. "Besides, there's more to taijutsu than just kicks and punches. There's also coordination, reflexes… stuff like that."

"And how would you know any of that stuff, huh?"

"Yeah!" Iruka laughed. "If you knew anything about reflexes and coordination, then you would've been able to dodge my water balloon from before, right?" He laughed some more.

Naruko scratched her head. "You're right about that. But at the very least, I know what to work on and what not to do. Let me remind you all that my brother was the fourth Hokage, and I had front row seats when it came to watching him train. Sometimes he was pretty impressive, and sometimes… he wasn't so impressive." She wagged her finger and winked. "I can tell you guys what my brother had trouble with, and help make sure it doesn't give you guys the same amount of trouble."

"Whoa! Seriously?!"

"Well, I can certainly try, can't I?" Naruko said, smiling. "Now why don't we go outside and get started already?" she started walking towards the door, before she stopped herself and added, "Before we go however, everyone has to pick a partner… except you Mizuki. I've got something special for you."

"Really?" Mizuki asked eagerly. To be able to show his stuff in front of the fourth Hokage's sister! This would surely help him rise up the ranks of the shinobi world!

Naruko got out a clipboard and timer, and handed them to Mizuki. "I hear you're the best in the class. Very responsible and very well behaved. So instead of participating in the workouts yourself, all you have to do today is record everyone's times." Naruko gave him a warm smile. "Wouldn't that be nice? Instead of working hard all day like you usually do, you get to sit back and relax instead of being covered in sweat like everyone else. You'll still be doing something, but at least it's pretty small in the grand scheme of things, right?"

"Wow!" a girl with black hair ran up to Mizuki, a smile and a little blush on her face, "Mizuki, that's so cool!"

"Aw, stop kissing up to him Tsubaki!"

"Aw, give her a break." Iruka said, "It should be obvious by now! Tsubaki's in LOVE with him!"

Everyone laughed. "Tsubaki and Mizuki, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" everyone chanted.

Tsubaki blushed even harder. "T-that is not true!"

"Iruka, you and your antics, honestly." Mizuki muttered under his breath. He was looking at the clipboard and timer given to him. To say he was disappointed would have been an understatement. He was beyond disappointed. He had wanted to show his stuff to someone who could have skyrocketed his career as a shinobi, and instead he was given the equivalent of a desk job! …But then again, it's not impressive to complain about things either, is it? Then again….

"Excuse me Mrs. Namikaze, not that I don't appreciate this, but if we have to each pick a partner, then who will Iruka pair up with?"

Naruko looked around. Sure enough, everyone seemed to have a partner except Iruka. Naruko smiled. "Well then," she said, walking up to Iruka and placing a hand on one of his shoulders, "looks like we'll have to be partners then," she leaned in and whispered, "Mr. Class Clown."

Iruka blinked for a moment, before finally screaming, "What!?"

* * *

"Alright everyone! How about we start off with track races?" Naruko asked.

"But how is that going to be any different than how we usually do things around here?" Iruka asked.

"And why would that require us to have a partner? Are we doing relays?" Tsubaki asked.

"I wasn't exactly finished yet," Naruko said. She had brought a bag with her, and from that bag, she pulled out a rope. "You and your partner are going to race against someone else and their partner, with your legs tied together… backwards."

"What?!" Iruka cried, hardly believing what he was hearing. "Why?"

Naruko smiled. "Do you know how many times my brother tried to show off by jumping backwards, only to lose his balance and slip and fall? I don't know about you guys, but I don't think ninjas are allowed to lose their step in the middle of a mission or battle. Not only that, but during missions, you'll usually be paired with other people. Say one of your teammates is injured and you need to get away. Are you supposed to leave him there? No. You're going to have to carry him," she looked at the girls, "or her, and make sure you both get to safety. This exercise will make you both rely on each other, that whenever one of you falls, the person who falls needs to make it easier on the person who is supporting him or her, and the person supporting the injured needs to do whatever he, or she, can to save both of them. You'll both learn to rely on each other to help each other succeed, and you'll all learn how to move backwards, which is good for, as I mentioned before, jumping backwards, dodging attacks, etc, etc, etc."

All of the students stared at her in awe. "Whoa," Tsubaki thought, impressed, "that actually makes a lot of sense."

"Looks like she really does know her stuff… to a degree of course," Mizuki thought. But still… "Mrs. Namikaze!"

Naruko looked at him. "Yes Mizuki?"

"This training exercise seems really important. Wouldn't it be better if I participated in this exercise instead of writing times on a clipboard?"

Naruko smiled. "I hear you're very responsible Mizuki. So responsible that I expect you to do this on your own time, and since Iruka's your friend, you can always ask him to help you out with the exercise to get the full effect."

"Aw, come on!" Iruka cried. "I've got better things to do than do exercises all day! Especially on my free time! He can do the exercises with Tsubaki instead!" Tsubaki blushed at this.

Naruko smiled, her eyelids half closed, looking intently at Iruka, and giggled. "Well, well. You might want to stop while you're still ahead Iruka. All this attention will eventually get you in a lot of trouble you know." She walked up to Iruka and tied their legs together. She then locked her arms with his and smiled, "Since you have so much energy, why don't we go first?"

Iruka looked at Naruko closely for the first time. She had indeed prepared for this. She was wearing regular brown pants and a short sleeved, long white shirt with orange triangles around the collar and sleeves and with her hair tied up in a single ponytail, she looked about ready to do any physical event at this point. "I'd… rather… not."

Naruko leaned down and said, "I insist."

"Ha ha, sucks to be you Iruka!"

"Serves you right man!"

"What a loser, having to do an exercise with a teacher like that!"

"Aw geez, what am I gonna do now?" Iruka thought, "My reputation as 'class clown' is going down the drain with this chick! But what else am I supposed to do? It's not like I can afford another F in this class!" Iruka thought frantically before finally, he had a plan, and chuckled to himself.

"Okay everyone! The times you get are just your starting points! Work hard, and always try to beat the best time you've got, alright? So Mizuki…."

"I got it! Record everyone's times, even if they get second place." Mizuki cried, at the starting line (which was also the finish line).

Naruko smiled. "Good. Now who wants to go up against us?"

Tsubaki's partner, apparently a friend of hers, stepped forward confidently. "Come on Tsubaki. Let's show that mean bully what you're made of!" she said, pointing at Iruka.

Tsubaki hesitated, before nodding and saying, "Sure, why not!?"

The two tied their legs together and the two pairs positioned themselves in front of the starting line, backwards of course. Mizuki took out his timer, "Alright! On your mark…get set… go!"

The two teams were off… or rather, Tsubaki and her friend were off. Naruko and Iruka however were already on the ground. Iruka scratched his head and said, "Aw man, silly me, I'm such a klutz!" Everyone watching laughed.

Naruko got to her feet, but Iruka just stayed on the ground, lying on his back, pretending to be asleep. More laughs from the onlookers. As Naruko tried to pick Iruka up, he rolled to his side, and with Naruko's leg tied to Iruka's leg, it resulted in her falling off her feet again, landing flat on her back. More laughs erupted from the sidelines.

"Iruka!" Naruko yelled, getting really annoyed, "When are you going to get serious?!"

"I don't know!" Iruka said with a smirk. "Why can't you ever stop getting wet?!"

"W-what does that even -" Just then, Iruka threw another water balloon at Naruko's face, the force being powerful enough to make Naruko fall down again. The students watching the race were laughing uncontrollably now.

Iruka was laughing too. "Ha ha! Aw man, you should have seen your face!"

"Time!" Mizuki cried, as Tsubaki and her friend had finally reached the finish line and they looked a little roughed up. It was obvious that they had fallen a good number of times. Mizuki checked the timer. "Five minutes and twenty eight seconds!"

Tsubaki dropped to the ground. "That was a lot harder than I thought it would be!"

Tsubaki's friend looked just as disappointed. "I've never had a time that bad! Especially with only one lap!"

"Come on Iruka, let's get a move on!" Naruko clapped, as if to try and encourage Iruka to run through clapping.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Iruka knew that he couldn't keep them at the starting line for too long, or else she would have surely given him an F for the day.

They started running backwards, and this time, every time they fell, they legitimately fell. And they fell too many times to count… too many times in fact, that it wasn't even funny anymore.

"Come on Iruka! Stop messing around and let us have our turn!"

"Iruka, that jerk! This is one exercise that I'd actually like to do for once!"

"If this lasts any longer, than we won't even get to have our turn!"

Naruko looked at Iruka for a second, and noticed a slight tinge of sadness on his face, but in a split second, he yelled, "Aw, shut up you morons! You wish you could do some of the stuff I do!"

"Why don't you shut up for once Iruka!"

"Poor Mrs. Namikaze," one of the girls said, "she paired up with Iruka of all people!"

"Look at her shirt and pants, they're so dusty now! What a waste! It looked like a really nice outfit too! Very chic," another girl added.

One of the boys gave the girl a look. "What exactly does 'chic' even mean anyway?"

The girl returned the look with a look or her own. "Hmph. Obviously you wouldn't know."

Finally, Naruko and Iruka crossed the finish line. They both fell to the ground, dead tired. Mizuki looked at the timer, "Ten minutes and fifty three seconds!"

The students laughed. "Man, that time is downright terrible!"

"At least we know that we'll never have a time THAT bad, right?"

"Iruka!" Naruko cried, standing up, and pointing a threatening finger at Iruka, who gulped, fearing what might happen next, "You…" Naruko closed her eyes, and tried to regain her composure, "get a D for at least finishing the race."

Iruka pumped his fists up. "Alright! My first D!"

Tsubaki's friend frowned. "That's not exactly something to be proud of Iruka!"

Naruko sighed. "Whatever… let's just get these ropes off and let the others race."

Everyone seemed to be okay with that. As the other pairs competed against each other, Naruko sat on a bench and rested for a moment. Kotetsu had warned her, and she had just thought that he was exaggerating. Now, she was definitely paying for it. "Next time Kotetsu complains about his job, I'll take his word for it." She looked at the other students racing, and noticed that Iruka was missing from the crowd. While everyone else was focusing all their attention on the races, Naruko focused all of hers on trying to find Iruka. Finally, she spotted him all alone, behind everyone else, with a sad look on his face.

Naruko raised an eyebrow. "Maybe there's more to this 'clown' then meets the eye."

* * *

After the races, Naruko made the students do a couple more exercises (all in which Iruka gave her a hard time) and then went back inside to take some simple printout tests on ninjutsus and genjutsus (and somehow, Iruka found a way to give her a hard time during that too, without her taking his tests away from him). Finally, it was time to go home.

Naruko bowed. "Thank you for having me as your teacher! I've learned a lot, and I would've liked to stay (despite all of problems I've had today), but your official teacher should be here tomorrow, so please give him, or her, a warm welcome, okay?"

"Yes ma'am!" the class answered unanimously. They all rushed to the door.

Iruka was about to go out the door too, until Naruko grabbed him by the collar. "Oh no you don't! I want to have a word with you before you go Mr. Umino!"

"Ooooo. Iruka's in trouble! Iruka's in trouble!" some of the boys chanted in unison.

When everyone except Naruko and Iruka left the classroom and Naruko closed all the doors and windows, Iruka started to get nervous. "Maybe she was right, maybe I should have quit while I was still ahead," he thought.

She stood in front of him and smiled. "Now that you can't escape before I finish…."

"Oh my gosh!" Iruka thought.

"What's your favorite food?"

"…What?"

"What's…your favorite… food?"

Was this a trick? "…Ichiraku Ramen?"

"Oh my gosh!" Naruko gushed, her eyes lighting up, "I love that place! They have the best ramen in the world! And their family is just too cute! Did you see Teuchi's daughter yet? She's to die for!"

She grabbed Iruka's arm and started dragging him out the door, much to Iruka's surprise. "W-wait, what is this?"

Naruko gently touched Iruka's nose and smiled. "A date," she said, giggling.

Iruka stared at her for a moment, before finally screaming, "WHAT!?"

* * *

"Hey there Ayame! How are you?" Naruko asked, as she looked over the counter to see the little girl already walking around the kitchen on her own. Naruko looked at Teuchi. "She already knows how to walk around the kitchen?"

Teuchi nodded proudly. "Yes, she a fast learner, just like her old man." He laughed. "At the rate she's growing, she'll learn how to make all my ramen by next year!"

Naruko laughed. "You're already teaching her how to cook? Teuchi! I never imagined you as a slave driver!"

Teuchi laughed again. "When making your own business Naruko, you have to be!" He gave Naruko and Iruka their bowls. "Here ya go!"

"Thank you very much!" Naruko nudged Iruka a bit. "Come on!" she whispered, "say thank you!"

"T-thank you sir," Iruka said.

"Ah, you're welcome," Teuchi said, waving his hand. He started preparing a new batch for future customers.

As the two of them ate, Naruko looked at Iruka, and asked, "Isn't this great!?"

Iruka nodded. "So good!"

After a while, Naruko put her chopsticks down, and looked at Iruka. "Iruka… why do you do the things that you do?"

Iruka stopped what he was doing for a second, and said, "…I just want to, that's all." He continued to eat his ramen.

Naruko curiously tilted her head to the side. "No reason whatsoever?"

Iruka shook his head while he was chewing. "No reason…" he swallowed, "what so ever."

"Not even to get some attention?"

Iruka stopped for a moment, before asking, "Why would I want attention?"

Naruko shrugged. "I don't know… maybe because no one else pays attention to you otherwise and that you don't have any parents to give you attention at home?"

Iruka looked at her, eyes wide, and asked, "How do you know that?"

Naruko fiddled with a strand of her hair. "One of your substitutes, Kotetsu, told me about it. He was all 'Iruka's parents died fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox, but even so, that's no excuse for the way he acts in class!'. …I'm sorry. That sounded insensitive."

Iruka nodded. "Yeah, you can say that again," he muttered.

Naruko put a gentle hand on one of Iruka's shoulders. "I'm sorry about your parents… but if you're feeling lonely, then why don't you stay with me at my place?"

Iruka slapped Naruko's hand away from his shoulder. "Why would I want to live in the same place the demon that killed my parents lives?!" He looked down at his bowl. "My parents died trying to fight that thing! Lots of people died to fight that thing! And instead of finishing it off, we act as if it never happened! It's like everyone died for no good reason!"

Naruko looked down at her bowl too. "You're right. It doesn't seem fair, doesn't it? How the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked our village, how people we loved died so easily, how all of our lives have changed so drastically because of what happened." Iruka looked at her, wondering where she was going with this, and unbeknownst to them at the time, Teuchi was also listening in, while stirring his broth. Naruko looked at Iruka, and said, "You can hate the demon all you want. The demon did this. Not Naruto. Not a baby that doesn't even know what's going on right now." Naruko looked down at her bowl again. "Not a baby boy… that doesn't even realize that he doesn't have any parents… that doesn't even realize that he's all alone." Naruko looked at Iruka, with pleading eyes. "Out of everyone I know right now, I hope that you can understand that," she said softly.

Iruka looked away. "Please… he's not alone. He's got you."

"But I'm not his mother! I may look like him, but you have to believe me, I'm not his mother!" A horrible idea crept into Naruko's head, an idea that she hadn't thought of until now. "One day… when he's old enough to understand… I'll have to tell him that I'm not his mother… and he'll be crushed. Then… he truly would feel alone."

Iruka looked at her, and then looked at his bowl once more, seeing his reflection on the surface of the broth. He remembered how crushed he felt when he found out his parents died. It all happened so fast. No matter how much he told himself and others that he would be prepared for it, it blew him away. It changed his life forever. The people that knew you would pity you, and stop approaching you, thinking that you needed some space and that you would eventually get over it by yourself. They didn't know how to comfort you, and they didn't want to risk trying and only making it worse. On the other hand, the people who didn't know you only glance over you. They just looked at you and thought that you were some kid just passing through. Eventually, you'd go back home to your family, wouldn't you? No. That wasn't it at all.

"So please," Naruko asked, her voice faltering a little bit, struggling to regain her composure, "I'm not asking you to like him. I'm not asking you to accept him. I'm just asking you, at the very least, to pity him. To sympathize with him." She held his hand and squeezed it firmly. "Just as I sympathize with you."

Iruka thought for a moment. It felt so long to Naruko. Did she do enough to convince him? After what seemed like an eternity, Iruka nodded slowly. "Okay."

Naruko smiled warmly at him. "Thank you."

Iruka blushed. "Yeah, yeah."

Naruko giggled, and added. "You know, my offer still stands."

"What offer?"

"The offer to live at my place with Naruto and me. You wouldn't feel so alone anymore."

"…No."

"W-why not? Won't you feel lonely?"

"…Yeah."

"Won't you miss getting some sort of affection when you get home, like a hug, or a kiss on the forehead…something?"

"…I still hug."

"Who? You're knees!?"

Iruka looked at her, shocked. "How did you…."

Naruko realized what she had just done. "…Lucky guess?"

Iruka looked down at his bowl again. "Alright, fine! You caught me! I hug my knees! End of discussion!"

"You admit that you're all alone, you admit that you're lonely, and you always constantly try to stave off your loneliness! Why are you doing this to yourself?!"

"My parents… they were such strong shinobi. …They were strong… and they were fearless… and they could take on whatever came their way! I'm gonna be just as strong as they were! I'm gonna keep going with this chip on my shoulder, because no matter how many chips they had on their shoulders, they always pulled through, and they always succeeded!" He looked at Naruko through the corner of his eye. "Please, try to understand."

Naruko looked down again. "I understand… but I'll say that honestly, I don't approve of this. But if that's the way you want to live your life, then I won't stop you." She looked outside for a moment. It was getting late. She patted Iruka's head. "I'm glad that we had this talk." She pulled out some money and payed Teuchi for both of their ramen. "Thanks for the ramen Teuchi." She leaned over the counter and waved to Ayame. "Hope to see you again sweetie!"

Just when Naruko was about to leave, Teuchi said, "Naruko!"

Naruko turned around. "Yes?"

Teuchi looked at Ayame for a moment, before looking at Naruko straight in the eye, and saying, "… I sympathize for the boy too."

"…You do?"

Teuchi nodded. He looked down at Ayame again, who was playing with a ball of dough. "If Ayame were in his place, I'd want her to be taken care of too. To at least have a place other than home where she can be accepted. A place that she can call her home away from home. A sanctuary." He turned back to Naruko. "Tell the boy that he's welcome here anytime."

Naruko couldn't believe her ears. "Teuchi…."

Teuchi laughed. "If he's ever hungry, just tell him that he can have the best of the best any time he wants! And if he can't pay, that's okay! We can just put it on his tab and he can pay for it later! We'll give the kid some slack! And besides, if he likes our ramen just as much as you do, we might just have a new favorite customer!"

Naruko smiled and bowed. "Thank you! Thank you very much Teuchi!" She started to continue exiting the restaurant, but she stopped herself again. "Oh, and Iruka?"

Iruka turned around again. "Yeah?"

Naruko winked at him. "You don't need to take my advice or anything, since you're already kind of your own man and all, but I think you'd have better luck getting attention by being the BEST in the class, not the WORST in the class. I think success stories are much more memorable than a good joke, don't you think?"

Iruka shrugged. "Maybe." Naruko smiled, and she finally left Ichiraku Ramen.

Despite the fact that she had left, Iruka kept on staring at the spot where she had left from. Teuchi saw this, and smiled. "She very kind. Isn't she?"

Iruka kept looking at the spot where she had left from. "Yeah…." he answered absentmindedly.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yeah…."

"Her hair looks pretty soft, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…."

"You want a hug from her, don't you?"

"Yea- wait what!?" Teuchi laughed hysterically. Iruka blushed furiously. "That's not funny old man!"

Teuchi just kept on laughing. "Now that's a joke that you'll never forget!"

Iruka just stared hard at his bowl of ramen. "What a rotten day!" he thought to himself. "Then again… she does look like she gives good hugs. Laying your head on her chest must feel like laying your head on a pillow or something." Iruka's nose started to bleed a little, which he desperately tried to hide.

Unfortunately for him, Teuchi saw it. He laughed so hard that he could barely stand. "The boy's becoming a man!" He laughed for a whole minute, before suddenly turning a complete 180, pointed at Iruka and said, "Don't you dare have any thoughts like that about my daughter, you hear!?"

This was just too much. "I'm not going to have any thoughts about your daughter! Until now, I've never even had any thoughts about any girl!"

Teuchi grinned again. "Except for that one!" He started laughing hysterically again.

Iruka couldn't take it anymore. "That's it, I'm leaving!" He exited the restaurant and screamed, "Forever!"

"That's not what you said last time!"

"Gah!"

* * *

"Naruto!" The boy was placed back in his aunt and godmother's arms. He was sleeping.

The third Hokage smiled at her. "Did you have a good day at the Academy?"

Naruko nodded. "Yep!"

"No problems at all?"

Naruko shook her head. "None at all."

The Hokage didn't seem to believe her. "Really?"

Naruko laughed weakly. "Well… maybe one or two."

The third Hokage sighed. "We're going to have to deal with that boy eventually."

"Yeah… I guess you're right about that, but can you at least go easy on him?"

The third Hokage raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why is that?"

Naruko looked at Naruto, and said, "I hear he hugs his knees when he's alone."

* * *

Note: The ages of certain characters in the series is debatable. Feel free to debate about it as much as you want. Review please! Actual reviews! I want to improve as a writer! I'm not saying I don't like the review I've already gotten, they're all very encouraging, but some tips and advice wouldn't hurt either!


	4. Stay in the Present

Author's Note: It's finally back… sorry for the wait.

* * *

"Oh, by the way Naruko," the third Hokage said, "I think that you'd be glad to know that we've made some special arrangements for you and Naruto."

Naruko looked away from the sleeping Naruto in her arms and turned her attention to the now smiling old shinobi. "Special arrangements?" she asked.

The third nodded. He held his hands behind his back and looked up at the night sky. "Naruto, when he is old enough, will be allowed to attend the Academy free of charge."

Naruko's eyes grew wide as a big smile appeared on her face. "Seriously?!"

The third chuckled, and nodded. "Yes, and until he's old enough, you and Naruto will be supported financially."

"That's awesome!" Naruko thought for a moment. "But, what happens when he IS old enough to attend the Academy?" she asked.

"You could be my assistant if you like," the third Hokage suggested.

Naruko thought about it for a moment. "Your assistant, huh?"

"The work isn't too complicated, so it'll be easy for you to adjust to it, and the pay is decent to say the least. But I must warn you that work may pile up every once and awhile, and you'll admittedly have long work days, usually ranging from morning to night."

Naruko looked at Naruto, a soft expression on her face. "I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?" she said quietly. "I can't exactly find work anywhere else. And even if it's hard," she gently stroked one of Naruto's cheeks, "I've got someone at home who's relying on me to do my part."

The third Hokage smiled. "I understand," he said.

Naruko nodded, and the third Hokage watched her as she starting her walk back home. Before she could get too far though, a sudden thought crept into the mind of the third Hokage. "Naruko," he called. Naruko stopped and turned around to face him. "Where exactly are you living now?" he asked. "You used to live in the Hokage Residence with Minato, but since he died and I became Hokage, you've been formally forced to move. I'm just curious as to where you've moved to, considering your new social status in the village and your money issue."

Naruko smiled reassuringly at the elderly shinobi. "Don't worry, I found a place."

The third Hokage was obviously surprised. "Really?"

Naruko nodded. "Yep." She looked back at Naruto, and said, "It's not as big or as fancy as a mansion or anything, but I think it's definitely homey. And best of all, the rent is pretty cheap too!"

The third Hokage scratched his head, a bit skeptical to what he was hearing. "How did you ever get such a place?"

Naruko gave him a little wink. "Let's just say I know the landlord personally."

* * *

"Well, look who finally decided to show up!" the landlord said, as he saw Naruko walking towards the apartment. He was a short, friendly looking old man with gray hair neatly combed to the side. "I was half afraid that the villagers finally had the guts to… well, you know."

"Sorry," Naruko said, bowing apologetically. "It's been an eventful day."

The landlord smiled and gave her a nod. "I see." He yawned. "Well, I'm going to turn in," he said drowsily. "Good night."

"Oh, before you go," Naruko said, "I just want to tell you again how grateful I am that you're letting Naruto and me stay here. I can't thank you enough."

The landlord let out a little chuckle, and said, "Still as polite as ever aren't you? You haven't changed one bit." He looked up at Naruko's apartment door and sighed. "I've watched you and your brother grow up in this apartment building, and not just me, but everyone else who lives here." He shook his head and chuckled again. "It's amazing how much things stay the same. Not a single person has moved out of this apartment building except you and your brother when he became Hokage." He looked back at Naruko. "It wasn't just my decision to let you move back in. What can we say?" He smiled. "Having you back is very nostalgic for all of us." He sighed. "Makes me realize how old we're all getting."

Naruko smiled. "If you ask me, that's not so bad." She then though for a moment, and asked, "But what about Naruto? Why are you all letting him stay?"

The landlord sighed, walked to his suite, and answered, "Let's just say… we trust you."

Naruko smiled, and left it at that. "Good night," she said.

"Good night," he drowsily said back.

Naruko waited until after the landlord closed his door to start heading towards her own suite. When she entered, instead of turning on the lights, she used the moonlight coming through the windows (which were still uncovered from this morning) to guide her way to the bedroom. She carefully laid Naruto on the bed with his little head against the pillow. She watched him while he slept.

"He looks so peaceful," she thought. She bent her knees to be at the same level as Naruto, rested her arms on the bed, and used one of her hands to tenderly stroke one of Naruto's cheeks.

Naruto stirred. "Mama," he murmured.

Naruko stopped stroking his cheek, her eyes widened. "What did he just say?"

"He said 'Mama'," a voice in her head said.

Naruko quickly stood back up and stepped back, horrified. "…He said 'Mama'?"

"…Yes," the voice answered.

Naruko shook her head and covered her mouth, trying to regain her composure. "He said 'Mama'."

"…He did," the voice reassured.

"But… I'm not his mother." She suddenly remembered a part of her conversation with Iruka.

* * *

Iruka looked away. "Please… he's not alone. He's got you."

"But I'm not his mother! I may look like him, but you have to believe me, I'm not his mother!" A horrible idea crept into Naruko's head, an idea that she hadn't thought of until now. "One day… when he's old enough to understand… I'll have to tell him that I'm not his mother… and he'll be crushed. Then… he truly will feel alone."

* * *

That same horrible idea was creeping through her mind right now.

For a long time, she was lost in her thoughts. Then she said to herself, "I can't do this."

* * *

Mikoto Uchiha heard a knock at the door. Her husband, Fugaku Uchiha, upon hearing the knocking on the door, entered the room, looked at her, and asked, "Is someone at the door?"

Mikoto shrugged. "Apparently."

Fugaku sighed and shook his head. "Who could be visiting at this hour?"

Mikoto opened the door. "Oh! Hello there Naruko." She looked at the sleeping baby boy in her arms. "And I see you've brought Naruto along with you."

"Hi Mikoto," she looked over Mikoto's shoulder, "Fugaku," she added.

Fugaku walked up to the door, standing behind his wife. "Hello there Naruko," he said.

After an awkward moment of silence between the three, Mikoto asked, "Is there a problem Naruko? Why are you visiting at a time like this?""

Naruko diverted her eyes away from Mikoto and Fugaku's gaze. Mikoto and Fugaku looked at each other, Mikoto was obviously worried, and if Fugaku was worried, he did a good job hiding it. Both of them knew however, that the Naruko in front of them was not the same Naruko that they knew. She seemed a bit… off… in a bad way.

"Can I… talk to you two for a moment?" Naruko asked.

Mikoto gave her husband one last worried glance, before saying, "Sure you can."

Naruko and Fugaku sat at the table while Mikoto made them a quick batch of tea, Fugaku suspiciously eyeing the sleeping baby in Naruko's arms. When the tea was finally ready, Mikoto distributed the cups to everyone, Naruko taking a long sip while Mikoto and Fugaku simply held theirs and waited patiently for her to finish.

After the sip, Naruko let out a long, satisfied, "Ah," before thanking her hosts for the tea.

"You're welcome," Mikoto said.

"Now why don't you tell us why you're here?" Fugaku suggested.

Naruko looked sadly down at Naruto. She didn't say anything for a while. To Mikoto, it didn't look like she didn't have anything to say, it was just that she had a hard time saying it.

Fugaku's patience was growing thin. "If you have nothing to say or you can't say it, then why did you come?"

Mikoto tried to calm her husband down. "Dear -,"

"No," Naruko said softly. "He's right." Avoiding eye contact the entire time, Naruko gulped, and finally said, "I think that Naruto… would be better off… staying with all of you."

Fugaku slammed his fist on the table. "Absolutely not!"

"Dear," Mikoto hissed, placing her hands on her husband's shoulders in an effort to try and calm him down, "keep your voice down! You might wake up the kids! And besides," she nodded her head towards the intimidated Naruko, "you're scaring her!"

Fugaku pointed an accusing finger at Naruko. "And she's setting us up!"

Mikoto looked at her husband like he had gone crazy. "What?!" she hissed.

Fugaku rubbed his temples angrily. "Ever since that… that," he pointed at Naruto, "demon attacked the village, the village has started accusing the Uchiha clan of orchestrating the attack!"

"Dear," Mikoto gently (but somewhat firmly) placed her hands on his face and forced him to look directly at her, "listen to me. You need to calm down."

"How can I calm down," Fugaku hissed, "when the village is trying to crush the very thing that I've put my heart and soul into?!" Fugaku pried his wife's hands off his face. "For years, I have tried to strengthen the bond between the village and the Uchiha clan, and what do these accusations tell me?! That it was all for nothing! They STILL don't trust us, even after all this clan has done for them! And they probably forced Naruko to give us that baby to further prove their accusations!"

"Honey, don't you think that maybe you're overreacting about this?"

Fugaku was about to answer that question, but before he did, he glanced one more time at Naruko. He took his wife aside, and, after one more glance at Naruko to make sure that she wouldn't try to eavesdrop on their conversation, whispered, "The village is going to force the clan to live at one of the corners of the village. They're going to ostracize the Uchiha clan from the rest of the village!"

Mikoto couldn't believe her ears. "What?"

Fugaku nodded gravely. "And just to make things worse, they're going to place the clan under heavy surveillance." He shook his head again. "They just don't trust us."

They simply stood there silently for a minute before Mikoto took a deep breath, and said, "Listen, Naruko obviously has something on her mind and you're in no condition to talk to her right now. Why don't you turn in for the night and let me handle this?"

"You're not going to take that baby in, are you? Mikoto, think about the Uchiha clan's reputation!"

Fugaku was going to say more, but Mikoto stopped him before he could continue. "Please… let me handle it." Fugaku didn't seem too sure. "Don't worry, everything will be fine." She smiled. "I promise."

Fugaku sighed and rubbed his temples. "Alright." He started to leave the room, and Mikoto could hear him mutter to himself, "It's things like this that make me wonder if Madara was right all along."

After Fugaku left, Mikoto took a deep breath and sat back at the table.

"Is everything alright?" Naruko asked.

"For the most part," Mikoto said. She stroked one of her bangs, before asking, "Naruko, what did you mean when you said that Naruto would be better off staying with us?"

Naruko looked at Naruto sadly, before shaking her head and answering, "I'm sorry, but… he just can't stay with me."

"And why is that?" Mikoto asked. She secretly prayed that the reason wasn't what she thought it was.

When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto thought she'd at least try to set her own worries at ease. "Please tell me it's not because of the village. Please don't tell me that the way they're treating you differently and all the bad attention Naruto's giving you is enough for you to abandon him!"

Naruko shook her head. "No, no it's not that."

"Oh thank goodness," Mikoto thought, placing her hand over her heart and letting out a sigh of relief. "Then why is it?" Mikoto asked.

At that moment, Naruko lost it. Tears were starting to fall from her eyes and down her cheeks, she was sniffing and hiccupping uncontrollably, and all she could do was shake her head and try to clean herself up with her free hand as best she could and keep all the noise she was making to a minimum.

Mikoto rushed to her side and tried to calm her down. "Naruko… Naruko, what's wrong?"

Naruko tried to talk as best she could against her own sniffs and hiccups. "I…," she shook her head, "I just can't."

"But why?" Mikoto asked. "Naruko, I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong."

"I just can't!" Naruko whispered as loudly as she could. The tears were coming down hard now.

"Oh, Naruko, you're crying on the baby, here, give him to me."

Naruko handed Naruto to Mikoto, and did her best to clean herself up and regain her composure. Mikoto rocked Naruto in her arms, to make sure he stayed asleep. While she was doing that, Naruto stirred a bit, and murmured, "Mama."

Mikoto's eyes grew wide. "He isn't talking about me, right?" she asked, panicked.

Naruko shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "No. I'm pretty sure he's talking about me.

Mikoto let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness," she said aloud. Sudden realization hit her, and she smiled at Naruko and said, "Naruko, he's calling out for you!"

"I know!" Naruko said. "But I'm not his mother!"

Mikoto finally understood. She slowly nodded her head. "Oh, I get it now."

Naruko stopped crying. "You do?"

Mikoto shrugged. "Well, I can't say that I COMPLETELY understand, but I don't think I'd take it too well if a demon child called me 'mama' either."

Naruko wailed loudly.

Mikoto jumped a bit in surprise and tried to shush her. "Naruko, it's too late for this!" she whispered frantically.

Naruko shook her head and blew her nose. "I know, I know! But… that's not it!"

Mikoto found a stray pillow that could be used as a small bed for Naruto and placed him gently on the table. She then went to Naruko and tried to console her. "Naruko, you have to tell me what's wrong! Otherwise I can't help!"

Naruko shook her head. "I can't!"

Mikoto gave her a bewildered look. "Why?" she asked.

Naruko made many crazy gestures with her hands before finally answering, "I promised the Hokage that I wouldn't!"

Mikoto still looked confused. "I don't get it."

"I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone who Naruto's real parents were!" Naruko quickly covered her mouth with her hands, realizing that she had let the cat partially out of the bag.

Mikoto's eyes grew wide. "Naruto has birth parents?" When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto gently placed a hand on Naruko's shoulder and said, "I understand that you promised not to tell, but whatever you can't tell me is obviously effecting you right now! Please Naruko, I want to help! You can trust me, can't you?"

Realizing that it was too late to go back at this point, and knowing that Mikoto was someone she could trust, Naruko finally said, "Naruto's birth parents… are Minato and Kushina."

Mikoto's eyes grew wide, and she quickly looked back and forth between Naruko and Naruto repeatedly. She pointed at Naruto. "He's… Minato and Kushina's child?"

Naruko nodded. "Yeah. They sacrificed themselves so that the Nine-Tailed Fox could be sealed inside Naruto or something." When Mikoto gave her a funny look, Naruko flung her hands up into the air and wailed, "I'm not a shinobi! If you don't know, then what chance do I have?!" The waterworks came back on.

Mikoto put two and two together. "So you're…," she struggled to find the right words to describe Naruko's current state, "like… this… because your brother and step-sister's baby called you 'mama'?"

Naruko nodded. She had finally calmed down a bit. "I just can't keep him! If I keep him then I'll eventually have to tell him that I'm not his mother, and if I tell him that… he'll be crushed!"

"Then why don't you NOT tell him?" Mikoto suggested.

"But then he'll think I'M his mother! And that'll be like slapping Kushina and Minato in the face!" Naruko blew her nose and added, "And what if I told him but he didn't believe me? I mean…," she held a couple strands of her own hair, "we both have blonde hair," she pointed at her eyes, "we both have blue eyes," she pinched her own cheeks, "we have whisker marks on our faces -"

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"I don't know! As far as I know, I was born with this. It must've been a REALLY recessive gene or something." She then continued what she was talking about. "If he believes that I'm his mother, then that'll be like -"

"Spitting on Minato and Kushina's graves?" Mikoto finished.

"Something like that," Naruko said softly.

After a moment of silence, Mikoto asked, "So… how is leaving Naruto with us going to solve anything?"

Naruko shrugged. "At least with you guys, he'd KNOW that he was adopted. That'd save all of us a lot of drama."

"But what if he sees you around the village? What then?"

"I don't know!" Naruko cried (as quietly as she could). "I didn't think this all the way through! All I knew was that it would've been a bad idea to keep him with me!" For a moment, no one said anything, until finally, Naruko murmured, "It should've been me."

Mikoto looked at Naruko. "What?"

Naruko sniffed. "I should have been the sacrifice for the seal." She rubbed her temples and shook her head. "Instead of becoming a shinobi like my brother I decided to live a normal life. He was willing to sacrifice his own safety and well-being, sacrifice his own happiness, for the sake of the entire village! And what did I want?" She looked down and said bitterly, "A peaceful, picture-perfect life. A husband, some kids, and me in a perfect little house, in a perfect little place all to ourselves." She shook her head angrily. "What was I thinking?! How could I have been so selfish?! If I had been a shinobi then I could've been there with Minato, protecting Kushina and Naruto! I could've made sure they were safe! I could've been the sacrifice for the seal instead of them!"

Mikoto placed her hands on Naruko's shoulders and squeezed them firmly. "Stop it! Don't you dare talk like that!"

Naruko angrily pulled Mikoto's hands off. "And why shouldn't I?!" She laughed as if she were a psychopath. "It's not like I had anything to live for anyway! But my brother and my stepsister?! They had a son, each other, and an entire village!"

Mikoto didn't see any other choice. She slapped Naruko across the face and once again grabbed her shoulders, again squeezing them firmly. "Naruko," she said through clenched teeth, "get… a… grip!" She violently shook her before finally letting Naruko go and giving the two of them a breather. Mikoto stroked her bang before finally asking, "Are you okay now?"

Naruko nodded slowly. "Yeah," she answered softly.

"Good. Now listen to me. You have plenty to live for! And now that you have a baby with you, you have even more to live for!"

Naruko didn't seem to agree. "And what exactly did I have to live for before Naruto came into my life?!"

"Minato, Kushina," Mikoto pointed to herself, "me! And I'm sure there are plenty more, right?" When Naruko didn't answer, Mikoto grabbed one of her shoulders and shook her gently and asked, "Right?"

Naruko shrugged. "I don't know… Kakashi… Izumo… Kotetsu… Iruka now too…."

"See?" Mikoto said. "That's plenty to live for already!"

"Yeah, but… that still doesn't excuse my selfish lifestyle."

Mikoto sighed. "Naruko, wanting a normal life isn't selfish!"

"Compared to all of yours'?! Um… yes it is!"

Mikoto looked down for a moment, before she said, "You know what? You're right. It is selfish. And you want to know something else?" She looked at Naruko, her eyes showing off her sadness. "We've all wanted it on numerous occasions."

Naruko's eyes grew wide. "What?"

Mikoto let out a small laugh, looked down at the table, and drew circles on the table with her index finger. "Yes. You can say that, in a way… we were jealous of you."

It took a moment for Naruko to process these words. "You all… were jealous…," she pointed at herself, "of me?" She just couldn't believe it. "But… why?"

Mikoto sighed. "Let's just say that being a shinobi is VERY far from all fun and games. Placing every dream and desire to the side in order to do your duty, always saying goodbye to your family in case the next mission you take is your last, having to emotionally keep everything bottled up to the point where it's unbearable, the physical and mental pain that goes with the job, seeing your friends die right in front of you." Mikoto shook her head and slowly rubbed her temples. "You have all the power you want, but you're constantly someone's tool or have to act like one." She looked at Naruko. "There were times when we were VERY close to quitting."

"…Even my brother?" Naruko asked.

"Well, your brother a little bit less than the rest of us, but yes, even he considered quitting at least once." Mikoto smiled. "But then we come home from our missions and we see our families and friends, the people we're protecting, and we know it's all worthwhile." Mikoto gently held Naruko's hands in hers and gave them a soft squeeze. "Minato and Kushina always told us how, even after the worst missions, you'd always be there at home, waiting for them, with a smile on your face and food prepared for them and you ready to help them out both physically, mentally, and emotionally in any way you could. You did that Naruko. You! You've helped keep the fourth Hokage and his wife sane!" She smiled at Naruko knowingly. "Would a selfish person really devote all that time and effort to nurture the people they loved?"

Naruko smiled and wiped the sides of her eyes a bit. "No… I guess they wouldn't."

"Good." Mikoto wagged her finger at her playfully. "Now I don't ever want to hear you talk like that again, understand?"

Naruko let out a little laugh. "Yeah." She looked at Naruto. "But what do I do about Naruto?"

Mikoto sighed. "Naruko, I'm sorry, but I can't take him in. I've got two boys in this house now, and with Itachi being the oldest, Fugaku's going to devote most of his attention to him, no doubt neglecting our newborn in the process. I don't know about you, but that'll be more than enough drama for me to deal with. 'Adoption drama' would probably pull me over the edge."

Naruko's face fell. She reached out to stroke Naruto's cheek and asked, "But what can I do? If he stays with me, then I'm eventually going to have to tell him the truth. And if I tell him the truth…-"

"Naruko," Mikoto interrupted, "you can't keep worrying about the future like this." She held Naruko's chin and forced her to look at her. "Look, I can't say that I know what to do or what's going to happen, but I can say this: a child needs to be loved, and Naruto will definitely get the love and attention he needs… from you."

"But-"

"Whatever happens in the future will happen in the future. We live in the present, not the future, or the past for that matter. Worry about Naruto's reaction to the truth when you get there. Until then," she picked Naruto up and held him in front of Naruko, "even if it's just pretend… he needs a mother. He needs you."

Naruko looked at Naruto for a long time before finally taking Naruto from Mikoto's arms and cradling him in hers. She shook her head sadly. "I'm going to dread the day I'll have to tell him… so much."

Mikoto nodded. "But until then…." She waited for Naruko to finish that sentence.

Naruko finally relented and smiled. "I'll be his mother."

Mikoto smiled. "That's good." They both stood up and Mikoto led Naruko to the door.

"Thanks for the pep talk," Naruko said, "I really needed that."

"No problem." Mikoto opened the door to let Naruko out, but before Naruko could leave, Mikoto stopped her, and added, "You know, before Kushina died, we had hoped that Naruto and Sasuke would be friends…."

Naruko let out a small laugh. "I get the hint."

Mikoto smiled. "Good." She gestured towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, it's getting late, and we both have children we need to take care of tomorrow."

"Alright, alright." Before Naruko left however, she added, "Oh and… whatever I said that made Fugaku lose his temper; can you tell him I'm sorry about that?"

Mikoto nodded. "Don't worry, I will. But if you ask me, I don't think it was really your fault."

Naruko let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She turned to leave and added, "Good night."

Mikoto followed her out, stopped in front of the door, and waved. "Good night to you too," she said.

When Naruko finally got back home, she walked back to the bedroom, and once again placed Naruto down on the bed. She bent down and stroked his cheek, and he stirred. "Mama," he murmured.

Naruko froze. "No, Mikoto's right. A child needs love, and until that day comes when I finally need to tell him, I'll give him all the love and attention I can possibly give him." She leaned forward and gave Naruto a soft kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry sweetie… mama's here."


End file.
